If my mother walked into the Tate Modern today, she would be exulted. In China, sunflower seeds are a staple delicacy especially reserved for Chinese festivities. From October 12, 2010 until May 2, 2011, over a million handmade sunflower seeds spread across the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern in London. It is the latest installation by Chinese conceptual artist Ai Weiwei. “Sunflower Seeds” is made up of millions of individually sculpted and painted porcelain seeds handcrafted industrially in the city of Jing De Zhen in China. “Sunflower Seeds invites us to look more closely at the ‘Made in China’ phenomenon and the geo-politics of cultural and economic exchange today.” Wonderfully clever and definitely therapeutic for the soles. Scroll down for a minute conversation between Ai Weiwei’s and Frieze. Continue Reading More »
It is inevitable that the New Museum would launch its own branded edibles. Last week, I was fortunate to be invited to the preview of their freshly launched New Museum Cookie made by City Bakery’s owner Maury Rubin. Not only is the Birdbath Cafe stocked up with deliciously baked goodies, it seems that the New Museum is taking a huge step into forward-thinking sustainable practices. Their environmentally conscious effort is evident in working with City Bakery’s acclaimed Maury Rubin with his Build a Green Bakery initiative, and Uhuru Furniture designers who “believes that each piece conceived, designed, and produced should add to some greater good for the world.” I had a chat with Maria Cristina Rueda from Uhuru, and she explained that their furniture is handmade in Red Hook with a huge awareness for the environment especially when they produce for special events. I was more than impressed by that statement since I produce events and understand how materials always get wasted. The trunk stools that we were sitting on were beautifully simple, humbly original, and most importantly minimally functional. At the end of our conversation we both agreed that we can only take realistic steps towards shifting into a “green” mindset, this is New York City after-all, and not the hippy West Coast.
Sitting in complete darkness I closed my eyes and brought myself closer to the Dreamachine.
The potential hypnotic, hallucinatory effects that this machine promises is a huge expectation for its sitters, myself included. Of course, at the time when Brion Gysin manifested this machine his state of mind was more or less LSD- or hashish-induced. A poet, painter, performer, inventor, and thinker, Gysin collaborated closely with beat poet William S. Burroughs. Their tight friendship is evident in correspondence letters and openly shared in the exhibition Brion Gysin: Dream Machine. Gysin is one of the founding fathers of the Beat movement, and well respected for his endless experimentations with words and images, which eventually led to sound recordings as well. This man traveled greatly both in the physical and spiritual world, freeing himself to what has been taught, searching for the unknown.
As the yellow light continuously flickers on my face at 78 rpm, I cannot imagine what Brion Gysin saw, in my sober state, instead I heard sounds from some distant land. And shed a tear.
This Saturday’s Warm Up event at PS1 MoMA will be a good one. The line-up includes Animal Collective, Blondes, Prince Rama, Oneohtrix Point Never, CFCF, and Babe Rainbow. The set starts from 2PM to 9PM. See the full schedule here.
The first U.S. exhibition of German painter Otto Dix, at the Neue Galerie is long overdue, and after a recent visit, I have discovered a newfound admiration for a painter whom I only thought of as creating Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden. This exhibition proves Dix to be an incredibly self-aware artist who dedicated his life to the study of painting, and in turn, the study of the human condition as seen in his many variations on portraiture. The exhibition at the Neue Galerie begins with a small gallery full of his work made during World War I, a body of work that ultimately sets the tone for his entire artistic career. Continue Reading More »
While the NY Public Libraries are under the stress of budget cuts, the nation’s Library of Congress has been busy digitizing its collections with a grand vision for the future. The Library of Congress houses the largest database in the world with original manuscripts, ancient books, renaissance-era maps, audio/video files, and historical artifacts. I came across an interesting photo essay by Rob Beschizza revealing some interesting facts about what is going on behind the library’s preservation department. It is both interesting and exciting to see how they are handling cultural artifacts using intelligence from specialists (perhaps researching from other countries as well) to realize a whole new digital culture, hence a different way of researching and learning.
My hope is that as they develop, they will preserve the traditional values of a library, as a powerful resource and cultural establishment, going into the future to advance digitally. As Eric Hansen, chief of the Preservation Research and Testing Division puts it, “You can learn about a culture from how it builds and stores things.” Browse the LoC’s digital collection online.
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